Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Nautical A rope attached to the weather leech of a square sail to hold the leech forward when sailing close-hauled.
- noun A knot forming a loop that does not slip.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Nautical, a rope leading forward and fastened to the leech of a square sail.
- noun In ship-building, a curve representing a vertical section of the bow-end of a ship.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A rope fastened near the middle of the leech or perpendicular edge of the square sails, by subordinate ropes, called
bridles , and used to keep the weather edge of the sail tight forward, when the ship is closehauled. - noun the ropes by which the bowline is fastened to the leech of the sail.
- noun See
Illust. under Knot . - noun close-hauled or sailing close to the wind; -- said of a ship.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical a
knot tied so as toproduce aneye orloop in theend of arope ; it will notslip orjam
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a loop knot that neither slips nor jams
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The bowline is great but only if you need a loop that won't slip.
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Just that fast, with one hand, there was a friggin 'bowline in the middle of it.
Knot Reference Wallet Card Keeps Your Knot Knowledge Fresh | Lifehacker Australia
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The bowline is great but only if you need a loop that won't slip.
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It was not that rare of a knot, but the bowline was the common preference.
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'Do you know whether Mr Oliver would know that a bowline was a safe knot to use?'
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The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.
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The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.
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The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.
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The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.
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The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.
reesetee commented on the word bowline
A loop knot used by boaters to make a secure loop at the end of a rope. It doesn't slip or bind under load and can be untied easily with no load. Two bowlines can be linked together to join two ropes.
January 9, 2008